Warner Makes Nice with YouTube

 

Posted by: Douglas MacMillan on September 29

 

On Tuesday, Google announced that music videos by Jay-Z, Madonna, Green Day, and other Warner Music artists will return to YouTube after a nearly year-long breakdown in negotiations between the companies. The latest deal brings all four major music labels into revenue-sharing arrangements with the world’s largest video site.

 

Warner became the first major label to partner with YouTube in 2006. But last December, its music videos began disappearing from the site, a sign the label was unhappy with the amount of revenue it was collecting from the partnership. YouTube’s vast library of unpredictable and sometimes objectionable user content has made it difficult for Google to place ads next to more than 9% of videos, according to eMarketer’s estimate.

 

Google says the new deal allows Warner to sell ads against its own music videos, as well as user-generated videos that contain clips of its songs. “This sets us up for a sustainable partnership going forward,” said Chris Maxcy, head of music partnerships at YouTube, during a call with reporters. Maxcy credited Warner Music CEO Edgar Bronfman with taking a personal role in the latest deal.

 

The arrangement leaves Warner out of Vevo, a separate music video site which YouTube first announced with Universal Music in March and which Sony signed on to in June. Presumably, Warner couldn’t come to a financial agreement with Vevo, or else didn’t want to lump its videos together with those of other labels in a kind of online portal for music videos. No new details on the planned launch of Vevo were announced.

 

The deal sees Google continuing to take steps to wring profits from the video site, which Credit Suisse analysts earlier this year estimated loses nearly half a billion dollars annually due to the high cost of technology needed to run it. In April, YouTube introduced new sections of its site for professional TV shows and movies, and earlier this month the company was said to be in talks with Hollywood to charge for rented movies on its site.

 

Source: http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/tec...r_makes_ni.html

We'll see what happens, won't we? :unsure:

 

29 Sep 2009

Warner Music Group statement regarding YouTube

 

We’re pleased to announce that we’ve reached a new and expanded agreement with Google and its YouTube subsidiary that will bring WMG content back to the service as early as the end of the year. Under the agreement, members of the YouTube community will not only be able to access videos and other music-related content from Warner Music Group recording artists and songwriters, but will also gain access to an enhanced user experience on YouTube with a feature-rich, high-quality premium player and enhanced channels.

 

Source: Warner Music Group

 

http://www.wmg.com/newsdetails/id/8a0af812...12406e5d0b7333b

Ooh. I hadn't heard this...

I'd like a video collection. ;)